Remove purchased music from iPhone

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Level 1

19 points

Remove purchased music from iPhone

Asking this question because lots of people search for it, and there is no answer yet.

I have 20,000 or so songs on my Mac. I don't want them all on my iPhone, so I created a playlist named "iPhone Playlist", use "Selected playlists, artists, etc..." and sync just that playlist with my iPhone. As I add songs to the playlist or remove them, they get added on the iPhone.

Except for music purchased from Apple. Once it is on the iPhone it's there and it doesn't go away. There is no reason why music purchased from Apple should be handled different from music purchased from all kinds of websites or even in a record store, but that's what it does. I consider it fundamentally broken, but how can I get rid of these songs?

iPhone XR, iOS 18

Posted on Oct 19, 2024 12:50 AM

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Answer 1

gnasher729 Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 19, 2024 3:36 AM in response to gnasher729

The solution: Select albums, artists or songs on the iPhone, then use "Delete From Library". This menu is misnamed. It doesn't touch the library on your Mac, it removes the songs from the phone and nothing else. Whatever is in your "iPhone Playlist", wherever it came from, will be restored the next time you sync. But songs that your iPhone didn't remove because they were purchased from the AppStore will be removed now, and if they are not in your "iPhone Playlist" they will be on your Mac but not on your iPhone unless you decide to put them into your playlist again.

For songs that you actually purchased on the iPhone, make sure you "download purchased songs" on your Mac.

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